Artist Marcus Kenney has a sign above his studio door that reads, “No Ideas But In Things.”

Inspired by a concept developed by the American poet William Carlos Williams, Kenney believes that art, at its best, should focus on material objects rather than abstract concepts.

“Abstract words or thoughts like love, peace, beauty and truth do not create images in the mind,” Kenney explained. “Only things like bottles, trees, toothbrushes and houses can create visual images.”

This edgy Savannah artist applies that passion for the material world to “State of Nature,” a new solo exhibit currently on display at 1704Lincoln. Showcasing a range of new paintings and sculpture in the first local show since his 2007 tour de force at the Jepson Center for the Arts, “State of Nature” marks a major break for Kenney’s early work, emphasizing portraiture over narrative.

This Louisiana native is perhaps best known for his innovative use of found materials to create ambitious mixed-media works and sculptural installations. In the past, his richly layered work explored a full spectrum of politically charged topics including colonialism, capitalism, consumerism, war, religion and race.

A series of elaborately adorned, bejeweled and spangled taxidermy mounts – including a deer’s head, ram’s head, coyote and bobcat – takes center stage in Kenney’s latest solo show. He shares his interest in ritual and tribalism through his thoughtful manipulations of found and discarded objects.

“State of Nature” also reflects Kenney’s growing interest in faces, from Native American leader Tomochichi wearing an elaborately collaged headdress to tiny square portraits from the artist’s “Colonized Minds” series. He still makes scathing social commentary in works like “The Almighty,” which depicts a massive African-style mask adorned with a loose crown of doll heads, tree branches and dollar bills.

He skewers American capitalism by piercing a Ronald McDonald doll with voodoo pins and celebrates the animistic spirit in the hallucinatory demigod sculpture “St. KicKitic.”

This avant-garde master of manipulation recently spoke with the Savannah Morning News about the lure of tribalism, the burden of narrative and his irrepressible love of art.

Q: How is this new body of work different than work people may have seen by you at the Jepson Center or other local venues in the past?

A: I am incorporating more sculptural elements than I have in the past and have moved beyond the narrative-based paintings that people are familiar with. This body of work does not feature any of the apocalyptic-style paintings about the future and instead takes the concept full circle in which the future will look more like the distant past.

Q: Your new show reveals a growing interest in tribal elements, from animal adornments to ritualistic imagery. Why does the concept of tribalism appeal to you?

A: I think I am searching for something authentic. We live in a time when it is hard to find authenticity in much and even harder to recognize it when we do. One of my favorite places to visit is the Museum of Natural History in New York, where I can view the collections of native cultures. That gives me a better sense of what it means to be human and a part of the earth. Even though we have removed ourselves from the natural world, it is still in our DNA and cannot be denied.

This era is only a fleeting moment in mankind’s history. Although the world seems to be getting smaller and moving toward one global unit, I tend think in opposite terms where the day will come when humans will choose to revert into smaller tribal like cultures. Maybe this body of work is just practice for when we all become futuristic cavemen.

Q: Are there any artists, contemporary or otherwise, who inspire you?

A: Matisse for his color, Kate Bush for her emotions and Fellini for his style. Alexander McQueen for his boldness and John Steinbeck for his humanity. Those are just this week’s list. It changes often.

Q: What do you love most about creating art and being an artist?

A: I love the constant struggle and challenge of pushing my work beyond the comfortable places.

Q: Where do you tend to find the various materials you incorporate in your work?

A: Anywhere and everywhere. Our landscape is overflowing with stuff.

Q: You have mentioned that your new work is more or less free of the burden of narrative.

Why is that liberating for you?

A: I have not abandoned the narrative all together but I think I am searching for a way to tell a story without the use of traditional story telling elements like characters, environments and situations. How can a story be told with a face, a jar or an animal? I am in a real exploratory phase now.

Q: You’ve always created mixed media paintings and sculpture, never abandoning one medium for the other.

Do you have a preference between working in two or three dimensions? Or do you like the challenge each one presents?

A: I have always been fond of sculpture. Funny, but I still consider the sculptures to be “paintings.”

I have felt the pendulum slowly swinging toward the third dimension.

It is a logical progression from collage to what I am doing now, but I’ll never completely abandon painting.

I love it too much.

IF YOU GO

What: “Marcus Kenney: State of Nature”

Where: 1704Lincoln, 1704 Lincoln St.

When: Through Dec. 3

Gallery Hours: Thurs. – Fri., noon. - 6 p.m. and by appointment

For more information: 398-1676 or 1704lincoln.com

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Originally from Cooters Point, La., Kenney graduated from the University of Louisiana with a B.A. in Film and Video before moving to Savannah in 1995 to pursue an M.F.A. in Photography at the Savannah College of Art and Design. He quickly established himself as one of the city’s most talented artists exhibiting his work throughout Savannah as well as in Hong Kong, New York, London, Chicago, Atlanta and Miami. Featured in The New York Times, Art in America and ArtPapers, Kenney enjoyed a major solo show at the Jepson Center for the Arts in Savannah in 2007 and has two exhibits opening in New Orleans later this year.